Nola wavers as Phillies fall to New York again
Rookie lasts just four innings in 9-4 loss to New York
NEW YORK >> Before being declared either a legend or just another crumbly pitching promise, Aaron Nola will cross multiple significant checkpoints. He encountered one Wednesday and was promptly turned away.
Matched against the star power of Matt Harvey in CitiField, the rookie right-hander wobbled and the Phils fell, 9-4, to the New York Mets. Victimized by a succession of close defensive plays and at least one play for the ages, Nola was unable to keep the Phillies involved, even on a night when they were able to touch Harvey for four runs. With that, he fell to 5-2 and the Phillies were unable to run a winning streak to two.
The Phillies fell behind, 6-0, after three, but tried to solve Harvey, pulling within 7-4 on Darnell Sweeney’s seventh-inning home run, his third since arriving from Los Angeles in the Chase Utley deal.
Nola, though, would not make it past the fourth inning in the shortest of his nine career starts.
“He’s pitched enough and has had enough success here that he feels pretty good about himself,” Pete Mackanin said, before the game. “He has that confidence, and that’s what I like about him. And he’s up for that kind of a competition. That’s the way he is. And I think it’s good for him to be in that position.”
The eternal baseball ace-vs.-ace challenge requires above-average defense and some luck. Nola and the Phils had too little of either, particularly during the Mets’ three-run second.
After David Wright singled, Kelly Johnson sliced a Nola pitch toward the left-field corner. Sweeney, in left for the first time as a major-league player and playing Johnson to pull, hustled but could not prevent it from dropping in for a double. That was followed by what could be a signature play for the Phillies’ third consecutive failed season. Ruben Tejada lofted an opposite-field flare to shallow right, causing Do-
monic Brown to come running for the would-be third out. Instead, Brown failed to make the catch and then tumbled, head first, over a small foul-territory fence and onto a stadium exit path, essentially disappearing from view. As the ball rolled toward the outfield fence, Tejada completed a two-run, inside-the-park home run.
Brown later would leave the game due to concerns about a possible concussion. He did not accompany the Phillies to Boston, where they will begin a weekend series Friday night. He will be seen by a doctor Friday in Philadelphia, the Phillies said.
Sufficiently shaken, Nola allowed three more third-inning runs, with Wright supplying an RBI double and Michael Conforto hitting a home run over the left field fence.
With the Phillies determined to limit him to 185 innings this season, minorleague starts included, Mackanin pulled Nola after four. By then, his season total had climbed to 163 and he had allowed nine hits and six earned runs. That he would strike out four, walk none and throw 46 of his 65 pitches for strikes hinted that Nola was as much a victim of difficult baseball as he was unprepared for the Harvey challenge.
“The first impressions indicate Nola, (Alec) Asher and (Jerad) Eickhoff are going to have a very good chance to be in the rotation next year, just based on what I’ve seen so far,” Mackanin had said beforehand. “They throw strikes. They’ve got good stuff. They show no fear. They’ve shown a good mound presence. It’s a nice feeling trying to look at those guys in the rotation next year trying to piece it together.”
The Phillies touched Harvey for three in the fifth when Erik Kratz, pinch-hitting for Nola, ripped a two-run double to left-center, then scored when Cesar Hernandez beat out a grounder to first. But Dalier Hinojosa immediately walked the leadoff hitter, Wright, who would eventually score on Tejada’s grounder to first for a 7-3 Mets lead.
Harvey, who moved to right in the top of the fourth when Brown helped keep the Phillies close by throwing out Yoenis Cespedes at third to end the sixth. His home run, to deep right-center, pulled the Phillies within three. Adam Loewen returned the run in the bottom of the inning, surrendering three hits, including an RBI single from Tejada.
“I think wherever I am at, just to be in the lineup will be good,” Sweeney said. “If it is every day in the outfield, I will make that transition. Right now, I know I will be a utility guy, just bouncing around the diamond.”